Reports & Papers

Workability Asia International Seminar 8 April 2014

Taking advantage of a Workability International Board meeting in Tokyo on 7 April 2014, Workability Asia organised an international seminar "Update on Employment of People with Disabilities" for the afternoon of 8 April 2014. Over 200 people attended the seminar. Speakers at the seminar were Patrick Maher (Australia & President, Workability international), Jerry Davis (USA), Jason McKey (Australia), Roy O'Shaughnessy (UK), Rick Sebastian (USA) and Naoko Saito (Japan).

Zero Project Report 2014

The Zero Project was initiated by the Essl Foundation in 2010. It is run in partnership with the World Future Council since 2011 and with the European Foundation Centre since 2013. The mission of the Zero Project is to work for a world without barriers, according to the principles of the UN CRPD. It does so by researching Innovative Practices and Innovative Polices worldwide that help to improve the lives of persons with disabilities, as well as researching social indicators that measure the implementation of the UN CRPD and the current situation in all countries of the world.

Workability Asia Report: "Gainful Employment for All"

Thanks to project funding from the Toyota Foundation, Workability International Asia has now published its report, 'Gainful employment for all'. The report is 222 pages long and has three parts:

Part 1: Best practices on the promotion of employment of people with disabilities.

Part 2: Country/Area Survey on governments' policies or affirmative actions in promoting employment of people with disabilities.

Part 3: Full text of the Incheon Strategy to "Make the right real" for persons with disabilities in Asia and the Pacific.

The report is a valuable source of information on the employment of people with disabilities in Asia.

ILO Working Paper: "Disability in the Workplace: Company Practices"

Many companies realize that people with disabilities are productive, reliable employees who bring benefits to the workplace. A diverse workforce, inclusive of people with disabilities, is seen by many as important. Some companies also engage in developing products and services for people with disabilities, their families and friends. And, as companies engage with communities in which they work, many pay specific attention to disabled persons. These three themes are the basis of Disability in the Workplace: Company Practices, which describes the contemporary experiences of 25 companies and their work on the issue of disability. The profiles describe company practices toward disabled persons as employees or potential employees, customers and consumers, and community members. The descriptions are short, only two to four pages, but each captures the context of company operations as it relates to the issue of disability.

WHO Paper: Guidelines on the Provision of Manual Wheelchairs in Less Resourced Settings

The wheelchair is one of the most commonly used assistive devices for enhancing personal mobility, which is a precondition for enjoying human rights and living in dignity and assists people with disabilities to become more productive members of their communities. For many people, an appropriate, well-designed and well-fitted wheelchair can be the first step towards inclusion and participation in society. The United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and World Health Assembly resolution WHA58.23 all point to the importance of wheelchairs and other assistive devices for the developing world, where few of those who need wheelchairs have them, insufficient production facilities exist, and all too often wheelchairs are donated without the necessary related services. When the need is not met, people with disabilities are isolated and do not have access to the same opportunities as others within their own communities. Providing wheelchairs that are fit for the purpose not only enhances mobility but begins a process of opening up a world of education, work and social life. The development of national policies and increased training opportunities in the design, production and supply of wheelchairs are essential next steps. In the light of the realities of the developing world and the immediate need to develop functioning systems of wheelchair provision in less-resourced parts of the world, the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Agency for International Development, the International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics and Disabled Peoples' International, in partnership with the Centre for International Rehabilitation, the Motivation Charitable Trust and Whirlwind Wheelchair International, have developed this document to assist WHO Member States to create and develop a local wheelchair provision system and thereby implement Articles 4, 20 and 26 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

WHO Manual: "Training Manual on Disability Statistics"

"To make people count, we have to count people right". This notion is of particular relevance for the area of disability statistics, which is challenged by a substantial lack of accurate and comparable data. Few countries in the Asia-Pacific region collect information on disability regularly through censuses or surveys. In countries where information is collected, it is often done without consideration of international standards or focuses on only disability in terms of predefined categories of impairments (e.g. people who are blind, deaf, paraplegic or intellectually disabled). As a result, many countries in the Asia Pacific region have very limited and often non-comparable information about the extent of disability and the lived experience of persons with disabilities and their needs. The demand for more standardized disability statistics in the Asia-Pacific region has increased significantly over the years. The Biwako Millennium Framework for Action towards an Inclusive, Barrier-Free and Rights-Based Society for Persons with Disabilities in Asia and the Pacific (BMF) and its supplement, the Biwako Plus Five urges governments to develop national disability data systems using international standards and methodologies and revisit their current definitions of disability. The recently adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol (CRPD) set the tone, at the global scale, of the broader approach to disability, which emphasizes the affect of environmental and attitudinal barriers on disability. CRPD calls for appropriate data collection on disability which would give effect to its implementation. In response to these needs, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) have taken initiatives and implemented a joint project on improving disability statistics and measurement in the region by promoting a common definition and methodology based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). It is against this background that this publication was prepared. This training manual intends to enhance the understanding of the ICF-based approach to disability measurement. It provides an overview of the ICF framework as well as guidelines on how to operationalize the underlying concepts of functioning and disability into data collection, dissemination and analysis. This publication will benefit not only statisticians but also a wider range of national and international users of data on disability. This broader influence will result from the wide applicability of the standards, methodologies and best practices covered by the manual. It is hoped, that the manual will assist in stimulating more disability data collection in accordance with international standards and data dissemination for both national and international disability policy analysis, formulation and evaluation worldwide.

WHO/World Bank Report: "World Report on Disability"

To achieve the long-lasting, vastly better development prospects that lie at the heart of the 2015 Millennium Development Goals and beyond, we must empower people living with disabilities and remove the barriers which prevent them participating in their communities; getting a quality edu­cation, finding decent work, and having their voices heard. As a result, the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group have jointly produced this World Report on Disability to provide the evidence for innovative policies and programmes that can improve the lives of people with disabilities, and facilitate implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which came into force in May 2008. This landmark international treaty reinforced our understanding of disability as a human rights and development priority. The World Report on Disability suggests steps for all stakeholders – including governments, civil society organizations and disabled people's organizations – to create enabling environments, develop rehabilitation and support services, ensure adequate social protection, create inclusive policies and programmes, and enforce new and existing standards and legislation, to the benefit of people with disabilities and the wider community.

2013 Workability International Member Survey Report

In June 2013, the Workability International (WI) Board of Directors commissioned a survey of its membership. The purpose of the survey was to gather information about existing employment-related systems, processes or methods that promote employment opportunities for people with disabilities in the public and private sectors in its member countries. A total of eighteen countries submitted responses. The intention of the WI Board is to share the survey results with its membership and in so doing provide them with information that may be helpful in lobbying their countries' governments to advance the employment of people with disabilities.

Workability International is proud to be the world’s largest body representing providers of work and employment services to people with disabilities. More than three million people with disabilities are engaged in work programmes, accessing employment and work, delivered by many member organisations in more than 40 countries.